I pulled my skiff yesterday, it was time, the fall rains always fill it up while I am away at work and I lay awake at night worrying about it. The best of intentions at the end of summer always assume the boat will be sailed until Thanksgiving, but the reality is one or two sails happen, always under the influence of guilt, and thus most people pull their boats right around Labor Day and be done with it.
I also pulled #28, the Lowell skiff, which was astonishingly given to me by Charles and his son Alex (daughter Izzy is an old cycling buddy) to restore and revitalize. My son Fisher bailed out the boat and together we took the sails off both skiffs, pulled the spars and hauled them up the hill to the yard where they stand now on sawhorses, next to #36, making three Churbuck-built skiffs in all. A veritable armada.
Now to tie up some loose ends and pack for my flight to London tonight. Not looking forward to landing at 6:30 am in Heathrow, cabbing to a day of meetings in Basingstoke, and then back to Heathrow for a 7:30 flight to Tokyo, where I will be until Friday.
I’ll try to post on the road and will bring the digital camera, but this is going to be a disconnected week of circumnavigation and jet-lag.